Adebayor keeps Togo alive in African Cup

Ivory Coast's Emmanuel Eboue, background center, celebrates with teammates after Yaya Toure, unseen, scored their second goal against Tunisia during their African Cup of Nations group D match at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. The two other teams in group D are Togo and Algeria. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AP) — Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the first half to help Togo defeat Algeria 2-0 and retain a chance of reaching the second round of the African Cup of Nations on Saturday.

Adebayor netted in the 32nd minute and substitute midfielder Dove Wome added another in stoppage time to seal the victory, which eliminated Algeria and secured Ivory Coast a berth in the quarterfinals. The Elephants beat Tunisia 3-0 in the early Group D match.

Ivory Coast has six points, while Togo and Tunisia have three each before they face each other in the final group match on Wednesday.

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The match at Royal Bafokeng Stadium had to be stopped for 15 minutes after the 86th because the goalpost tilted backward after an Algeria player ran into the back of the net. Nearly 10 people worked to try to fix it and eventually the woodwork had to be removed and reinstalled.

Adebayor netted the winner in a breakaway after receiving the ball in front of the defenders and sending a low right-footed shot past the goalkeeper. Wome scored after the stoppage to fix the net, receiving a long pass from midfield and entering the area before firing a shot underneath the charging Algerian goalkeeper.

Adebayor had been the best player for Togo in the opener and again proved important on Saturday. The Tottenham striker threatened not to play at the tournament because of security concerns and disagreements with Togo’s federation over bonus payments for players, but eventually decided to join his teammates.

Togo played well in the opener against Ivory Coast but allowed Gervinho’s winner in the 88th minute.

Algeria also was coming of a disappointing defeat. It outplayed Tunisia from the start but lost after allowing a long-range goal in the first minute of injury time.

On Saturday, the complaints were with the officiating crew. The Algerians were upset with two alleged missed penalty calls, one on Sofiane Feghouli in the 47th and another in the 57th on Islam Slimani, who apparently was brought down as he prepared to shoot from close range.

The entire Algerian bench complained, and coach Vahid Halilhodzic entered the pitch briefly and kicked the ball toward Madagascar referee Hamada Nampiandraza, who was surrounded by Algeria players and apparently didn’t see the coach kicking the ball.

Slimani had a great scoring chance in the first half when he controlled the ball with only the goalkeeper to beat inside the area, but aimed it right in the middle for an easy save.

It did not play in last year’s tournament but brought a revamped team to South Africa. Under the command of experienced Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic, it won eight matches and lost only one heading into the African Cup. It was 19th in FIFA’s world rankings in December, the best ever for the team. It is currently 22nd.